Winners picked in St. John's yard and garden contest

NEIGHBORS

St. John's Community Association sponsored its second annual yard and garden contest recently.

The judging took place on June 11. Members of the Branch and Twig Garden Club and Split Rail Garden Club, along with a representative from Williamson's Nursery, acted as judges.

The judges wandered through the Dunloggin area enjoying the beautifully manicured lawns and gardens.

They performed the difficult task of declaring a Best All-Around Garden winner in the yard of Diane Aschenbrenner, whose yard is "breath-taking, very private," complete with lily pond, blooming lily pads, and a bubbling fountain, according to the judges.

Best Sunny Garden was that of Donna Stokes, who "utilized every area in her yard, successfully integrating a play area with landscaping."

Best Shady Garden is that of Barb Henry, who created "a haven for wildlife, a lovely entrance with ornamental touches."

Each winner received a $25 gift certificate from Williamson's nursery on Frederick Road in Ellicott City.

Four honorable mentions were also declared: to Eleanor Dries for her well-maintained garden; to Eilene and Richard Grill, for their nice choice of shrubs, trees, and border plants; to John Hein for his beautiful vegetable garden and well-designed flower bed; and to Rick Seahorn for his sanctuary shade corner.

Many thanks to Chris Dumler for coordinating the contest, and con

gratulations to the winners for their efforts.

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Deborah Jagoda, gifted and talented program resource teacher at Waverly Elementary, is Ellicott City's nominee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching.

Ms. Jagoda is a 20-year-plus teacher who has worked hard to create some innovations in the curriculum for her fourth- and fifth-grade gifted and talented math students.

One of the interesting ideas she has come up with is her matlab, which she uses as an alternative to a pencil-and-paper test to evaluate her students.

The lab consists of several stations, including a writing station and stations that mimic games. The most interesting station is one in which the teacher videotapes each student making a short presentation explaining a concept being taught.

Later, the student and teacher view the videotape together, allowing the child to evaluate the perform

ance. They discuss the explanation given on videotape, and the results become part of the test grade.

Ms. Jagoda reports tremendous growth not only in the studentsunderstanding of new concepts, but also in abilities such as writing, speaking and self-evaluation.

"They're in the role of producing a product, not just producing the answer to a problem," she says.

The best indication of her successful testing strategy is when the students come into class asking, "Are we going to have a math lab this week?"

That's an elementary school student asking for a math test, highly unusual behavior in most elementary school students.

This fall, the teacher nominees will learn the names of thPresidential Award winners. Until then, we can only hope that Mrs. Jagoda will plan more math labs.

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June 7 saw the graduation of 32 young men and women froTrinity School.

Many members of the class received special recognition frothe school. For perfect attendance in the 1993-1994 school year, awards were presented to Debjani Bhaumik, Meghan Buckley, Gregory Ecker, Kimberly Greene, Christopher Hunt and Amanda Wagener.

Students who received a grade-point average of 94 percent or higher were eligible for the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, which was presented to Amit Ariwndekar, Katherine Beem, Kimberly Greene, Clare Lochary, James Newman, Melanie Sanders and Amanda Wagener.

The President's Award for Educational Excellence wapresented to Daniel Wagner and Debjani Bhaumik and the President's Award for Academic Effort was presented to Kimberly Greene and Clare Lochary.

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Do you need to register to vote in Howard County?

Come to the Chatham Mall Giant Food Store from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. this Friday, for an opportunity to register. The voter registration table will be run by the Ellicott City Democratic Club.

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Howard County Library invites 2-year-olds and their parents to attend "Time for Us," a seven-week story and activity series held June 27 through August 11 at Miller Branch Library on Frederick Road in Ellicott City.

The program will be presented on Mondays at 10:30 a.m., Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., and Thursdays at 6:30 p.m.

Registration for Howard County residents begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday and may be made in person or by phone.

Children must be 2 years old by June 27 to attend.

Call Miller Branch Library at 313-1955 to register your child.

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Mount de Sales Academy for Girls held its annual honor assembly on May 27.

Five Ellicott City girls were honored.

Jessica Lester, Katharine Domerchie and Michelle Webb were all members of the "Anne of Green Gables" cast.

In addition, Michelle Webb won the Principal's Choice Art Painting Award for her portfolio.

Rachel Lancelotta won the Yearbook Service Award and the Presidential Scholarship awarded by Loyola College and a Maryland State Scholarship.

Leonore Lesho won multiple awards, including the Honorable Mention in the Maryland Distinguished Scholar program and the Knights of Columbus' Good Citizenship Award. She was on the honor roll at Mount De Sales for three of four quarters of her senior year. In addition, she won scholarships awarded by Applied Physics Lab and Providence College.